Children's Eye Exams

What to Expect During Your Child’s Eye Exam

During the exam, we will:

• talk with you and your child regarding personal and family health history. This helps us determine if they may be at increased risk for certain eye conditions.
• ask about their hobbies and activities so that, if they do need glasses, we can recommend the appropriate eyewear
• determine how well they see in each eye.
• assess how well their eyes work together (binocular vision).
• check their colour vision for signs of colour vision deficiency.
• establish their refractive prescription; if corrective lenses are required, we then discuss suitable options for glasses and contact lenses, based on age and activities
• examine the health of the back of their eyes (the retina). Sometimes this involves dilating the pupils using eye drops, which will leave your child’s vision blurry and light-sensitive. As well as helping us in our health checks, these drops can enable a more accurate prescription.
• discuss the findings with you and recommend appropriate glasses if needed. Please ask any questions you may have so you and your child both feel happy about.
• if it is time for a new pair of glasses, introduce you to our optician, who will recommend child-specific eyewear and help you pick out a new look you and your child will both love.

For children under the age of 10, we also recommend an additional assessment using our wide-field retinal photography. This is because sometimes younger children may have trouble remaining still during the examination of the back of the eye, and this camera helps us get a better view of the retina and the optic nerve.